Two Bills Drive

‘The top 17 quarterbacks in the AFC have combined to throw 5,728 passes. Of those, 3,619 were completed — 63 percent. Of the 2,109 that weren’t caught, only 163 fell in the arms of the opposition.’

‘The first time the Patriots faced the Bills this season and won, 38-7, they exploited backup corner Chris Watson. He was playing in place of starter Antoine Winfield . Now Winfield’s back and he’s covered everyone from Wayne Chrebet to Santana Moss to Tony Gonzalez. He’s better than Watson. He and fellow corner Nate Clements are a pretty good pair.’

‘Bruschi’s injury is considered significant because Bledsoe has completed 75 passes to his primary backs, Travis Henry and Larry Centers.’

‘As game day approaches, the Buffalo Bills are facing the unenviable task of trying to figure out what kind of offense the Patriots run. Good luck. The Patriots don’t even know themselves.’

‘”You’re not trying to transform a guy that you know that this just isn’t what he is,” Belichick said. “Mike is not really a defensive end in this league so he needs to be a linebacker.I mean, Pittsburgh saw the same thing, and that is all he can be.”‘

‘During a game, the back judge, who stands behind the secondary, is in charge of calling the delay of game penalty. The back judge looks at the clock and then looks to see if the ball has been snapped.’

‘In the first game in early November a combination of good execution by the Patriots and poor tackling by the Bills allowed New England to rack up over 186 yards of offense after the catch. Tom Brady and company transformed what has been referred to as a "dink and dunk" offense into big plays and touchdowns.’

‘Q: What do you think Buffalo did well in the first game that they might want to go back to and do this game? BB: Well, let’s just say what they think they did well. They said that they thought they moved the ball well, they just didn’t score in the red zone. They said that they thought that they played pretty good defense, they made good on the screen passes. So there are two things right there that I’m sure they feel like they were close on a couple of kickoff returns. Those are some things right there that they said that they thought went pretty well, I guess a couple of things that didn’t go well, they overrode them. Move the ball into the redzone, then you are not effective on offense.’

‘”I know that I still have a lot of fans out there and a lot of people appreciate what I did while I was there so it will probably be a mixed reaction (during the game). There will probably be some people that cheer for me. (But) during the course of the game I would expect the New England fans to do what they did the whole time I was there… which was to support their team.”‘

In his first year with Atlanta, former Bills HC & DC Wade Phillips has the Falcons ranked in the league’s top 10 in several defensive categories: Sacks (2nd), Interceptions (4th), Giveaway/Takeaway (6th), Forced fumbles (T8th)

For the 16th consecutive year the top high school football student-athletes in Western New York are being honored by the Buffalo Bills for their participation on the football field and in the classroom. All of the 41 scholar-athletes are seniors who played varsity football and have maintained an academic average of a 90 or above in their studies. The 2002 "All Academic Team" is co-sponsored by the WNY High School Sports newspaper.

The Bills will honor three high school football championship teams from the region during pregame ceremonies prior to the Bills-San Diego Chargers game at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday, December 15. This is the eighth straight year that the Bills have honored the Harvard Cup championship team and any teams from the region that play in the NY State Championship games played in Syracuse.

ORCHARD PARK – The Buffalo Bills will honor the top 11 high school football coaches in Western New York on Sunday, December 15 when the coveted "Coach of the Year" award is presented during ceremonies at the Bills-San Diego game at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

‘The Pats were so dominant in the first meeting – a 38-7 victory in Orchard Park, N.Y., in November – that they are faced with an interesting quandary. Do they stick with what worked so well back then? Or do they try something new, figuring that the Bills won’t get fooled twice by the same game plan? Or maybe the Bills will be expecting them to change, so the Pats could really trick them and do just what they did the last time.’

‘Hayes’ struggles this season have been well documented. Signed away from Carolina in the offseason, he was supposed to use his 6-foot-4 frame to provide Brady with a big target. Instead, he couldn’t dislodge David Patten from the starting lineup and couldn’t prevent rookie Deion Branch from assuming the No. 3 position.’